Beautiful Photos From Same-Sex Weddings Around The World
June is Pride Month. It's also a popular month for couples to get married.
Around the world, more and more countries are acknowledging the right of same-sex couples to solemnize their relationships in holy matrimony. And even where marriage equality does not exist, LGBT people are creating unique and beautiful ceremonies to celebrate their love.
Below, we share images from some of those eye-catching nuptials.
The Philippines
Two days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, a mass wedding of 15 same-sex couples was held in Manila to urge the Filipino government to follow suit.
A small Christian ecumenical group officiated the ceremony, which included one gay couples and 14 lesbian couples, in a basketball court in Quezon City. Same-sex marriageis still not officially recognized in the Philippines.
South Africa
In 2013, Tshepo Modisane and Thobajobe Sithole made history with the first traditional African wedding between two men, in the town of Kwadukuza.
Italy
Italy is one of the few European countries to still not recognize marriage equality, but Angelo Albanesi and Pier Giorgio de Simoni were among the couples who registered their civil union at Rome's city hall on May 21, 2015.
City officials organized a "Celebration Day" to encourage registration, and Albanesi, a finance minister, and De Simoni, a geophysicist, sported matching tuxes for the occassion, with canary yellow top hats, ties and boutonnieres.
"It is a very important day," said Albanesi, who, by that point, had been with De Simone for 35 years. "Today's celebration is an invitation to the government to act."
Civil-union bills has been sponsored in parliament but always faced considerable opposition from conservatives and the influential Catholic Church. Finally in February 2016, a bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Italian President Sergio Mattarella signed the "Civil Union Bill" into law on May 20 and took effect June 5, 2016. It provides same-sex couples with almost all the rights of marriage, with some exceptions regarding joint adoption.
Canada
Homosexuality is still illegal in India, but Daniel Langdon and Rishi Agarwal enjoyed a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony with Agarwal's Indian-Canadian family in Toronto in 2016.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could have the wedding that I wanted with the person I loved and with all my family and my friends,” Rishi told local news channels at the time.
Thailand
Same-sex marriage is not recognized in Thailand, but gay couple Naparuj Mond Kaendi and Thorsten Mid enjoyed a beautiful Thai wedding ceremony there in 2016, following their legal marriage in Germany.
Scotland
Barrie Milroy and his Aussie boyfriend Trent Hill recently tied the knot in Glasgow, with Milroy wearing a traditional kilt. Scotland officially legalized same-sex marriage in 2014.
China
Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang were the couple at the heart of China's first same-sex marriage legal case last year. The court ruled against them on on April 13, 2016, but they still held their symbolic wedding ceremony just over a month later. Had they won, the couple planned to host 100 same-sex weddings.
Uruguay
In 2013, Uruguay became the 12th country to allow marriage equality, and Sergio Miranda and Rodrigo Borda were the first same-sex couple married there—in a simple ceremony on August 22 of that year.
United States
Ohio couple Kait and Taylor Justus tied the knot earlier this month.
"We do everything together, which has made wedding dress shopping so hard because I want her to see them and help me pick, but at the same time I don’t want her to have any idea what I am wearing," Kait told equallywed.com. "I know it sounds cliché but she is literally my best friend."